Introduction

In the late 1800s, Japan began building its empire. However, the Japanese Empire was defeated by World War II. Japanese imperialism was similar to fascism and authoritarianism. This article explains how they were similar.

Militarism in the Early Empire

Japan did not want to be colonized by China. They built their own empire instead! Japan had to do two things to become a global power. First they had to deal with changes going on in Japan. Second, they had to catch up with industrialization.

Japan had a plan to build an empire. The country built a close relationship between the military and the government. This idea was inspired by tough military rule in Germany. This helped Germany become a world power. Japan wanted the same result.

Like Germany, elected civilians did not run the Japanese military. The emperor had total control. However, Japanese emperors had very little political power. As a result, the military did what it wanted. This had important consequences for the Japanese Empire.

The Japanese military rose in power. This gave Japan two big advantages. for growing its empire:

• First was patriotism. Japanese armies were conquering other parts of the world. This made people feel proud to be Japanese.
• Second was the lack of civilian control over the Japanese military. It acted as its own authoritarian government.

These were the two core ideas of Japanese militarism. Militarism happens by increasing military power. The power is used for political gain. Next we will look at Japanese Manchuria. Manchuria shows how militarism turned Japan into a fascist, authoritarian empire.

Militarism and the rise of fascist imperialism

By 1930, Japan had two enemies. One was the communist Soviet Union. The other was western liberal capitalist countries like the United States. Japan did not agree with these countries’ ideas. Japan was not alone, however. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany did not like communist or capitalist states either. Meanwhile, the Great Depression was destroying economies. The world was becoming more dangerous.

During this time, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria in 1931. Manchuria is in northeast Asia. The invasion shows how important the independent Japanese military was for Japanese imperialism. The Japanese army acted alone. For two years, they fought Chinese forces in Manchuria. Japan conquered parts of Manchuria. However, the invasion of Manchuria had economic and political consequences.

The Japanese military kept tight control over Manchuria’s resources. It was called a “controlled economy.” It was similar to Joseph Stalin’s command economy in the Soviet Union. Both countries controlled trade. They thought this would make their countries stronger.

Soon, the controlled economy spread to the rest of the Japanese empire. Over twenty years of capitalist free trade was over. The controlled economy caused huge changes in the empire. All Japan’s resources were used to grow the empire. The Japanese government and military merged together. Japan became a military state. The state started controlling daily life. They wanted all people to contribute to the war effort.

Louise Young is a historian. She believes these changes show two trends:

• First, the military state “connected the inside and the outside” of the empire. The new military government used Japan’s resources for wars outside of Japan. The state also used propaganda. Propaganda convinced people inside Japan to support the wars.
• The second trend was authoritarian beliefs. The state spread the idea that only the government could fix peoples’ problems. People valued obeying the government more than anything.

These were two key elements of Japan’s “fascist imperialism.” Hating communism and liberalism was another key part. Fascist imperialists also thought the Japanese were better than other races. They believed they were “civilizing” inferior people. Italian fascists believed this, too. In reality, Japanese colonialism was violent.

Conclusion

In the late 1800s, Japan used German militarism to create their own empire. Militarism gave the Japanese military a lot of independence. Military leaders eventually began a controlled economy in Manchuria. All the empire’s resources were dedicated to imperialism. The controlled economy spread to Japan itself. This resulted in authoritarian and fascist governments. Imperial Japan was similar to fascist European countries during the interwar period. However, they are not exactly the same.